How does Umoja benefit students?
Above all, Umoja works to develop students as learners and as leaders. Academic initiatives give students the chance to make connections between their current learning and the real world by connecting the classroom to community issues. Umoja’s model of service and leadership focuses on three areas: self-development, the development of a peer community in which students know how and when to act as leaders, and the development of an awareness of community issues and the means to address them. Through its college and career programming, Umoja exposes young people to a range of options and helps to reduce the sense of disconnection students often feel between their present and their future. Umoja defines a successful participant as one who increases his/her sense of possibilities, assumes increasing responsibilities for his/herself, and sees him/herself as an active citizen and committed leader in the school and community. Umoja’s offices are open during lunch periods, after school, school
